Earlier today I was surfing the web and mistyped a URL. Rather then getting the customary “The page you’re looking for cannot be found…” DNS error, I was presented with a notice from Qwest that I was now enrolled in a new service.

Its purpose: “to improve the customer experience, we have replaced these [DNS errors] with a list of alternative sites which we hope are relevant and useful.” Apparently Qwest has launched a new service called Web.help, a service that intercepts DNS errors and displays their custom page.

Here’s what the page says:

Qwest has launched a new service Qwest Web.Help
Qwest Web.Help will help you quickly find a destination website that meets your needs.

When Qwest.net and Qwest MSN customers mistype a URL (e.g. www.qwest.cmo) in a browser address bar or type a search term using Internet Explorer in the browser’s address bar, Web.Help will aid them in quickly finding their intended destination. You may avoid seeing this notice a second time by clicking on the button below.

[button here]

Otherwise, you will see this notice at least twice before the service is launched for you. The Qwest Web.Help search page may impact applications that rely on an error message being returned and override similar browser-based search result pages.

So basically either you click the button confirming you’re in the program, or they’ll show the message to you once more and then put you in the program anyway. Personally I find it very annoying and intrusive. So what did I do? Promptly found how to opt-out.

How to Opt-out

To opt-out of the program visit this Opt-Out page and click “Opt out of Qwest Web.Help”. Once your opt-out it will take a few minutes to take effect. If all goes well, you should now see your usual error message:

There, that’s better.